Hitherto, a drink supply appliance which mixes powdery or granular material with hot or cold water and supplies a mixed drink to a cup is known.
A drink supply appliance is provided with a mixing bowl for mixing powdery or granular material with hot or cold water. The mixing bowl mixes powdery material supplied from a material storage container via a powdery material shoot in accordance with a selected drink with hot or cold water supplied from a hot or cold water supply unit using a mixing blade connected with a motor, and supplies a mixed drink to a cup.
A conventional drink supply appliance partially shown in FIG. 1 comprises a powdery material storage section 1 for storing powdery material suited for drinks of various kinds, a powdery material supply section 2 for supplying powdery material stored in the powdery material storage section 1, a rotational axis 3 for driving a powdery material-extruding mechanism (not shown) provided for the powdery material supply section 2, a reduction gear 4 for reducing a rotational speed of a rotational speed to be transmitted to the rotational axis 3 with a predetermined reduction ratio, a supporting plate 5 for fixing the reduction gear 4, a motor 6 for generating the rotational power to be transmitted to the rotational axis 3, and a mixing bowl assembly 9 for mixing powdery material supplied from the powdery material supply section 2 via a powdery material shoot assembly 8 with hot or cold water.
The powdery material storage section 1 is divided into storage containers 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, and 1G. The powdery material supply section 2 is provided with powdery material supply outlets 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, and 2G for respectively supplying powdery material supplied from the storage containers 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, and 1G. The powdery material shoot assembly 8 situated under the powdery material supply section 2 is provided with shoots 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D and 8E for receiving powdery material supplied from the powdery material supply section 2. The shoots 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D respectively receive powdery material supplied from the powdery material supply outlets 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D, and the shoot E receives powdery material supplied from the powdery material supply outlets 2E, 2F, and 2G. Moreover, the shoots 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, and 8E are respectively supported in accordance with the insertion of fitting pieces 8a into openings 5A by the supporting plate 5. A mixing bowl assembly 9 mixes powdery material supplied to mixing bowls 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, and 9E via the shoots 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, and 8E with hot or cold water, and supplies mixed drinks to cups via drink supply pipes 9a. Powdery material and hot or cold water are mixed in the mixing bowls 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D and 9E by means of mixing motors 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, and 10E respectively fixed to bases 10a. Although only the mixing motor 10E provided for the mixing bowl 9E is shown in FIG. 1, the other mixing bowls 9A, 9B, 9C, and 9D are respectively provided with the other mixing motors similarly to the case of the mixing bowl 9E.
A vapor-exhausting mechanism of the mixing bowl assembly 9 is shown in FIG. 2, and comprises hose-joining portions 9b respectively situated behind the mixing bowls 9B, 9C, 9D, and 9E, motor-fixing members 10b for respectively fixing the mixing motors 10B, 10C, 10D, and 10E to predetermined portions of the mixing bowls 9B, 9C, 9D and 9E, hoses 11B, 11C, 11D and 11E jointed to the hose-joining portions 9b of the respective fixing bowls, and an exhaust fan unit 12 having the hose-joining portions 12B, 12C, 12D and 12E for respectively joining the hoses 11B, 11C, 11D and 11E to the exhaust fan unit 12. The exhaust fan unit 12 absorbs vapor evaporated from the mixing bowls 9B, 9C, 9D, and 9E by a rotation of a built-in fan (not shown) through the hoses 11B, 11C, 11D, and 11E, and exhausts vapor to the outside of the drink supply appliance. Although a mixing bowl 9A is omitted in FIG. 2, the mixing bowl 9A is connected with the exhaust fan unit 12 by a hose 11A (not shown) also similarly to the other mixing bowls.
According to the aforementioned structure, since vapor evaporated from the mixing bowl section 9 at the time of mixing powdery material with hot water is exhausted not to make the powdery material shoot assembly 8 damp, a situation that the powdery material shoot assembly 8 is bunged by adhesion of powdery material can be prevented.
However, according to the conventional vapor-exhausting mechanism of the drink supply appliance, since powdery material is sometimes exhausted together with vapor when vapor is exhausted from the mixing bowl assembly, in the mixing bowl assembly of the drink supply appliance which frequently repeats operation for sale, it sometimes occurs that vapor-exhausting capability deteriorates because of adhesion of powdery material to a vapor-exhausting path, the vapor-exhausting path is bunged by deposit of powdery material, and the exhaust of vapor is stopped. Moreover, since the drink supply appliance having the plural mixing bowls is provided with the plural hoses serving as the vapor-exhausting paths, the drink supply appliance is large-sized and magnified.